French TV channel slaps daytime ban on singer's video

Clearly one of France's national television channels, M6, is taking its responsibility to look after the moral welfare of this country's youth seriously.

It has decided that the video accompanying singer-songwriter Raphaël's latest single is "too violent to be shown during daytime hours" and has banished it to late at night or the wee hours of the morning when young children and teenagers are safely tucked up in bed.

screenshot of French singer Raphaël from his latest video

The problem, it would appear to be, is the sight of a "frail young woman being kidnapped by two hooded men" in the clip of "Bar De L'hôtel".

Yes the broadcaster, whose sister channel W9 recently offer viewers of all ages the chance to watch the delights and saucy goings-on of "Dilemma"; reality TV that left little to the imagination (albeit shown at a respectable past-the watershed hour) has decided that Raphaël's video oversteps the mark.

As the website Le Post points out, it might be less graphic and certainly far from being as violent as other clips that M6 regularly broadcasts during the day, but as far as the channel is concerned the agreement it has with the television watchdog Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel, CSA, means that it has an obligation to protect the sensibilities of younger viewers.

Fans and the simply curious though need have no fear of not being able to see the video.

It is of course out there on the Net for everyone to see, on the singer's official website, YouTube, Dailymotion and and elsewhere, and perhaps thanks to M6 is happily picking up a steady flow of hits.

Take a look and judge for yourselves.